


Born to be Wild 3: New Beginnings

by Ultra



Series: Born to be Wild [3]
Category: Firefly
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Children, Crew as Family, Extended Families, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Gender Roles, Love, Mother-Son Relationship, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-30
Updated: 2009-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-06 14:19:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16389326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Another set of one-shots, beginning with the birth of Zoe and Wash's baby, which sparks off a whole new adventure for River and Jayne.





	1. Kickin’ and Screamin’

The groans and screams could be heard through the ship, rattling doors and vibrating walls, or so it felt to River as she stood a few feet away from the action. The day had come, the special day she had predicted much more accurately than her doctor brother. A few moments more and their crew would be eleven in number.

She was much calmer this time around, attending her second birth. River would be proud of herself if she weren’t so thoughtful, and trying so hard to keep from giggling at Wash who was a terribly confusing combination of excitement and fear right now as he hopped around the medical bay like a bug on a hot plate.

“Okay, Zoe,” Simon told her. “One more push,” he encouraged, as the warrior woman followed the doctor’s instruction, gritting her teeth and forcing her child out into the world.

“She’s here,” murmured River with a smile, though from where she who would play nurse stood, she could not physically see enough of the child to know it was a girl - but it was.

“Oh my God!” Wash gasped at the sight of his child, leaning heavily on the side of the bed for fear of passing out, and Zoe glowed with pride and exhaustion both as her daughter was presented to her.

“There’s my girl,” she gasped out, as close to tears as she had ever been seen to be.

“If you don’t mind, doc,” Wash said then, glancing at Simon. “We were gonna name her Alyssa Simone Washburne.”

“I’m honoured,” the doctor replied, truly moved by the gesture.

He turned then to speak to River only to find she was gone from behind him, wandering out of the door to where Jayne, Kaylee, Inara, and Book sat waiting for news of the new arrival. Daniel and Mal stayed on the bridge, flying the ship and keeping watch for the trouble that always seemed to follow Serenity and her crew around.

“Is everythin’ okay, River?” her mechanic friend asked, rushing at her. “Is Zoe alright, and the baby and all?”

“Yes, all is good.” She smiled at Kaylee and the others, “One more crew member. Baby girl.”

As Inara and Kaylee hurried to see the new arrival, and the Shepherd got on the nearest comm to share the news with the rest of the crew, Jayne hadn’t time to wonder on Zoe and Wash’s little bundle. Something wasn’t right with River, and he was the first to notice, as usual. Nobody thought about Jayne being sensitive or observant, but his job dictated he had to be the latter, at least. He could spot trouble a mile away, be it a sniper or an ambush or whatever. Same could be said for River, he saw something bad about to happen long before she made it too obvious. It was almost as if he could read her as well as she read everyone else these days.

Getting up from the couch, he abandoned the cards he’d been playing solitaire with on the table, and followed River as she wandered aimlessly through the ship. He caught up to her in the galley where she turned around and looked back at him, almost as if she were lost or just forgot what she was doing somehow.

“You okay, bao-bei?” he asked her, pretty sure he knew the answer to that already, but not knowing what else to say.

“Okay.” She nodded her response. “Fine. Absence of problem. Yes, okay is true,” she said definitely, a smile turning her lips as she spoke, and yet she didn’t seem right still.

“River, honey, you’re actin’ weird even for you,” Jayne told her as he came closer, reaching out and placing his hands on her shoulders, ensuring she looked at him. “What in the gorram hell happened in there?” he asked with a frown.

“She pushed, she screamed... so loud and so much pain,” River explained the scene she had witnessed, “and then... perfection.” She smiled up at her man, looking genuinely happy now and that only proved to confuse Jayne all the more. “So tiny, so precise, so...” She stopped short, her expression unreadable to even her husband now. “Mother and child doing well, but mother and child can be different,” she tried to tell him, but her riddles that surfaced once in a while still baffled Jayne when they caught him off guard.

“Yeah, you lost me at pushin’ and screamin’, babydoll,” he told her regretfully. “You wanna maybe start over, use your non-genius words,” he suggested, making her smile.

Sometimes she forgot that she didn’t always make sense, that her own thought patterns rarely matched those of others. It certainly didn’t occur to her so often that her Jayne-man wasn’t as educated or as smart as she was, all she really knew was he was good at what he needed to be good at, and the perfect man for her to be tied to.

“I love Daniel,” she said, plain words no-one could fail to understand. “Perfect you and me in one place, so lucky to have,” she declared.

“True enough.” Jayne nodded, glad she was at least makin’ some semblance o’ sense to him for now.

“So bad to ask for more,” said River, shaking her head, “to want, to want too much,” she struggled out, knowing that greed was over-taking her, and that greed was wrong.

Bad things had happened in her life, but the ‘verse had paid her back for what she suffered. Now she had family, love, husband, child, peace, comfort, everything she could ever dream to want, and yet there was one more thing she craved.

“What ya wantin’ so bad, bao-bei?” her husband begged to be told, hand going to her cheek and turning her face til she was looking at him again. “If’n I knew, I’d give you whatever you wanted, you know that,” he told her.

River leaned her cheek into his palm, feeling the warmth of his body near hers, and even more than that the love that radiated all around the two of them. It was so pure and real, River was sure she would never tire of it. She only hoped her Jayne-man would understand what she wanted to tell him now, her secret wish.

“To be Zoe,” she admitted at length. “To be mother, to scream and push and see the tiny form. Mine and yours,” she explained, gesturing between his chest and hers to illustatre her point. “Real, traditional, true born.”

“Wuh di tyen, ah!” exclaimed Jayne, eyes wide as they could get without falling clean out of his head, “You want ...? Like, you want me to put a bun in your oven?” he asked her, feeling like this whole thing had come entirely out of left field.

“Believe that is a vulgar term for same action, yes.” His young wife giggled her response. “Scientifically speaking, coitus in order to produce zygote which will become embryo then foetus, human child,” she rattled off like the reference book she so often sounded like. “Romantically speaking... make love, make a baby.” She smiled, almost shyly, despite the fact he knew her quite literally inside and out, and knew better than anyone the innocence she could easily fake was less than real. “You and I, please?” she asked, gazing up at Jayne as his mouth opened and closed several times without him making a sound.

This was different. Sex was great, he didn’t even mind the whole love angle on it, but this was something else for Jayne. No being careful, no protection or precautions of any kind. Deliberately trying to make a new life, and all by enjoying the greatest pleasure there was. He’d have to be a ruttin’ fool to say no. ‘Sides, bein’ a husband and a father were the two greatest things in the ‘verse to him, even taking over from shootin’ and fightin’, though he would hardly admit it. A baby made the traditional way by him and River, nothing could be better.

“If’n I didn’t already have a whole bunch of reasons in my head to say yes,” he told her with a grin that only grew wider as he continued, “’s gonna drive Mal and your brother gorram long-suh,” he told her. “What’re we waitin’ for?” he said with a look she knew oh so well.

He practically chased her to their bunk, her laughing all the way, acting like she was trying not to get caught, but that was just part of the game. He caught her outside the hatch, pushed her against the wall and kissed her long and hard, taking her breath away in the best way. Getting down to the bunk without lettin’ up from touchin’ each other didn’t come easy, but if anyone had learned how to do such a thing it was these two.

They were barely down from the ladder before he had her pulled close, her dress already on the bunk floor as her hands went for his belt buckle. It was an afterthought of his to hit the switch that bolted the door, just a moment before they fell back onto the bed, her laughing as they landed awkwardly and in a tangle of limbs.

The humour was gone from the situation within a moment as the seriousness of what they were about to do hit them both full force.

“Ready for a new beginning?” she breathed as she lie beneath him, waiting for the rush she knew came next, and this time would be extra special because of what could come out of it.

His answer came in the way he kissed her as they moved together at last. Jayne hardly ever had to speak for River to know the words in his heart. Right now she knew he had never been more ready for anything in his life, and neither had she.


	2. Sickness and Health

“No, won’t go in, not necessary.”

River shook her head firmly, backing away up the steps, away from the medical room just as soon as it came into view.

“C’mon, River,” sighed Jayne from the bottom step, grabbing her hand before she could bolt. “Is gorram necessary to see the doc when you’re pukin’ up everythin’ all over our bunk,” he told her, just as strongly as her refusal to co-operate.

“Know why,” she reminded him, insistent still. “Don’t need second opinion,” she tried to remove her hand from his, but his grip was tight and she knew she wasn’t getting out of this without a fight that she didn’t want to have.

“Ain’t about the why, bao-bei,” Jayne told her, begging her with eyes and words both to see sense here. “‘S ‘bout makin’ sure you’re okay, you and that little secret o’ ours.” He smiled just at the very vague mention of the child his wife carried.

“Won’t be a secret if it’s told.” She rolled her eyes in response, looking like a grumpy teen as she stomped down the steps and stood right in front of him, albeit one step up the stairway.

“Hey, I ain’t thrilled ‘bout talkin’ to your pansy ass brother about my business and you know it,” her husband told her definitely, leaving go of her hand now he was pretty sure she wasn’t running, “but if’n he can help ya...” he tried to explain, hands at her shoulders barely a moment before she shrugged them off and pushed past him.

“Tired of needles and pin and pills!” she complained much more loudly, running her hands over her head and through the length of her hair as she paced some outside the medical room. “Thought it was all over,” she complained, caught somewhere between anger, frustration, fear, and confusion.

A light went on in Jayne’s head then as he realised what River’s problem really was. It weren’t nothin’ to do with the baby she carried, or the family secret gettin’ out, and everythin’ to do with her spending more time than even he had in that medical room.

“So that’s what you’re fussin’ ’bout.” He shook his head as he moved towards. “Wuh di tyen, ah... River, ya can’t never get sick,” he told her, stopping her pacing by getting in her way and putting his hands to her arms, trying to see her face though she kept her eyes to the floor. “We all gotta see the Doc once a while, ain’t nothin’ to fret over,” he told her, 

“Not fretting,” she said definitely, lifting her head so fast she very nearly smacked him in the jaw. “Just... anxious,” she settled on at length. “Body feels different, unsettled,” she explained, an arm going across her stomach that did not get show sign of her pregnancy, yet she knew their baby existed. “Pleasant discomfort, foreign part of me.” She frowned slightly as she looked back up at Jayne. “Disconcerting.”

“Ya always do get to talkin’ fanciful when you ain’t happy ‘bout somethin’.” He smirked at her words. “But it don’t make no difference, bao-bei,” he tried again to explain to her why seeing the Doc was so important, only to have the man himself appear and interrupt.

“River, Jayne,” said Simon as he glanced between them from the medical room door. “Is somethin’ wrong? Is it Daniel?” he asked, worry creeping into his tone at the thought of his nephew being hurt or sick.

“Daniel is flying, no problems.” River shrugged her shoulders.

“The hell there ain’t!” her husband practically exploded, the volume with which he suddenly spoke making River wince, since she was still stood so close to him. “Doc, you gotta talk some ruttin’ sense into your gorram sister,” he declared, leaving go of her and taking a step towards Simon, waving a hand emphatically.

“Well, if I could do that, she wouldn’t be married to you, would she?” the doctor said smartly with a smirk that only served to make Jayne more mad, as Simon ought to have known it would.

“Watch it, Ddc!” the merc warned him. “I ain’t in a jokin’ place right about now.”

“Sorry,” said Simon quickly, turning away and heading over to sit down on the couch where River was now perched. “River, sweetheart, is something wrong?” he asked her, all full of brotherly concern. “Because you know you can tell me if there is.”

“Nothing wrong,” she assured him with a shake of her head and a smile so bright. “Everything right. Everything according to plan. Numbers add up, cycle has stopped, perfect cells dividing happily,” she told him with apparent joy that caused Simon’s mouth to drop open and close a couple of times as if he were imitating a landed fish.

“Uh,” he looked dumbly at Jayne a moment, “she doesn’t mean...?”

“Yep, sure does.” He grinned proudly. “We gots us another little River or Jayne baking in there.” He nodded. “‘Ceptin’ we didn’t plan on spreadin’ the news just yet. Trouble is your crazy ass sister won’t ask you for help, even though she’s like a damn puke cannon every sundown,” he explained, not the least bit phased by River poking out her tongue at him for telling a secret she would have sooner kept.

“Ah, the ineptly named morning sickness.” Simon nodded in understanding, even as a grin spread over his face. “Forgive me for putting my status as second time uncle ahead of doctor, but... congratulations, mei-mei.” He hugged her, glad of her news, in spite of everything.

“Did not think you would approve,” his sister told him as they parted, and Jayne came to sit on the arm of the couch beside her. “Sexual contact between husband and wife causes you discomfort,” she said, her hand going absently to Jayne’s leg beside her even now.

“Well, River, just because I’d prefer not to hear about the intimate details of your activities, I certainly don’t expect you never to-”

“Doc!” Jayne interrupted Simon mid-yammer. “Quit ramblin’ about me sexin’ your sister, and get to the doctorin’ part already, dong ma?”

“Yes, good idea,” the doctor swiftly agreed, encouraging River to stand up when he did.

“She is fine,” she insisted, not loving the fuss right now, or the fact she was headed into the one room on Serenity that would never feel like home, and always like a prison she used to know. “Fine and-” She stopped short of saying whatever came next as the need to swallow hard accompanied a spin inside her head that quickly overtook her.

Jayne’s strong arms held her steady, but nothing could stop the contents of her stomach ejecting itself spectacularly... all over Simon.

“That’s my girl!” chuckled Jayne, unable to help himself; Simon always tried to be so fancy and gussied up, the sight of him now was comical in the first degree.

“And yet very much still my little sister too,” he declared, remembering more times than he cared to mention when he’d had to deal with this situation.

“Sorry?” River offered, looking appropriately guilty, but innocent as can be, as well as too pale for comfort.

“C’mon, babydoll,” her husband told her, pulling her close and then up into his arms with ease. “Reckon best place for you is our own bed,” he told her as he carried her towards the stairs. “We get you cleaned up, doc can swing by later with somethin’ to ease your troubles.”

“Yes, indeed,” Simon called behind them as he moved back towards the medical room, intent on getting himself cleaned up. “Get some rest, River,” he told her, though she barely heard, her head rested on Jayne’s shoulder as he carried her carefully through the ship towards their bunk room.

River felt like a princess to Jayne’s knight in shining armour as he took her to their room, cradled into his body, the most precious cargo he could ever carry. In the privacy of their room he helped her take off her dress and get into bed, fetching her a glass of water and making sure she was comfortable.

Pulling up a chair to beside the bed, he sat down, intent on watchin’ over her as long as she needed him. It reminded both of them of a time before marriage, when Daniel was first here, before feelings had been revealed and confirmed. In the medical room from where they’d just now come, her comatose and wounded, him sat beside her, willing her to pull through.

“Jayne-man is an enigma.” River smiled then as she reached out to put her hand in her husband’s own.

“How’s that now?” he asked, pushing random strands of hair off her cheek and tucking them behind her ear.

“Fights, curses, stronger than all, then gentle, kind, sweet, and soft to woman he loves,” she told him her own description of her Jayne-man. “Perfect husband, lover, father, man-”

“Ain’t nobody perfect,” he interrupted her, looking almost angry but then grinning out of nowhere, “but you keep on sayin’ it if’n it makes you happy,” he told her, making her giggle a moment.

All too soon she was serious again and he worried she was in pain or some such til she spoke.

“Wish I was as perfect,” she said sadly, and though Jayne knew what she meant, he couldn’t find a real fault with her, not his River.

“Perfect for me, that’s all there is,” he promised her. “Prettiest thing I ever saw in a dress, sexiest thing I ever saw outta one,” he told her, glad to see her smile return as he continued. “Best Ma Daniel could ask for, best wife I could ever pick for me - and hell, if’n you ain’t the best fightin’ partner I ever got me too,” he declared, a true honour for anyone to be told by such a man as Jayne Cobb.

“Perfect.” River smiled proudly and gratefully both at her husband’s fine description of her. “And four will be even more so,” she said, as her arm slid across her stomach and her eyes fluttered closed, her body craving sleep.

“Reckon you’re right, bao-bei,” he agreed, leaning over to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Yeah, I reckon so.”


	3. Celebration and Contemplation

“Oh come on, Zoe,” complained Mal, sounding more like a whiney child than the Captain as he followed her down the walkway of Serenity towards the bridge.

“If you hadn’t noticed, Mal, I’m a mother now,” his second pointed out as she turned to face him with the Alyssa held tight in her arms. “And she even outranks you... sir,” she added as an afterthought as she continued on her way to seek out Wash.

“But it’s U day!” Mal called behind her, despite the fact he knew by now it was pointless.

“Ain’t the drink he’s wantin’,” he heard someone say and turned to see Jayne telling River what he believed to be true. “It’s the brawl that comes after.” He grinned, as the couple moved past their Captain and headed towards the galley.

“Ain’t denyin’ it appeals,” Mal agreed as he followed them. “How ‘bout it you two? You like an honest brawl amongst folk, an’ I’ll see to it ya come back in one piece each,” he told them as they reached the eating area and River sat down at the table, next to where Daniel was quietly drawing.

“Jayne will go,” she said easily. “Inappropriate for me,” she said, her meaning clear to her husband and her son, but not to her Captain.

“Nah, I’ll stay too.” The merc shrugged, sitting himself the other side of Danny and taking an interest in what he was doing.

“Now what in the ‘verse is wrong with my crew?” Mal wanted to know, as he walked around to the kitchen and looked to Inara for an answer, but she was busy making tea and really paid no mind.

“Violent tendencies disperse in so much love,” said Daniel, causing Mal to spin around and look at him, “like tiny drops of ink in a gallon of water,” the boy explained, never taking his concentration away from the paper he drew upon.

“That may be so, and fair poetical, Danny,” his Captain agreed, “but it don’t get me far with wantin’ a member of my crew to help me out.”

“Mal, could you not just let one U day pass without breaking your hand on an Alliance face?” suggested Inara, all calmness and grace as she rounded the counter with a cup of tea each for her and the Captain.

“I second the suggestion,” Book threw in from behind his bible, sat at the other end of the table quietly reading up to this point.

With an almost defeated sigh, Mal sat down beside Inara, thanking her for the offered tea and tried to settle. He might’ve done so were it not for Kaylee and Simon walking in at that moment, hand in hand. The little mechanic looked quite stunned to see her Captain there before her.

“Well, you was the last person I expected to see, Cap’n,” she said with a slight frown. “We thought for sure you’d be planet side, kickin’ a little Fed butt for U day already.” She smiled then at the thought of the activity she knew pleased Mal so much.

“Yes, it’s not exactly U day unless you frequent the infirmary with classic bar room brawl injuries,” Simon agreed as he followed his girlfriend into the kitchen.

“I know this” said Mal as he twisted to glance their way before leaning across the table towards Jayne and River. “C’mon you two, best fighters I got, ‘specially with Zoe all motherin’ and such with her little bundle.”

“Am mother too,” pointed out River, as she put a hand on her son’s shoulder.

“Yeah, but Danny don’t need you ev’ry minute. Little man on his now, ain’t ya, son?” he encouraged the boy to agree, though it did him no good.

“Sure am.” He nodded, glancing up from his paper grinning. “But Ma won’t go.” He shrugged, finding this whole situation just a little amusing.

“Even when the drinks are on the Cap’n?” offered Mal, knowing that would at least get Jayne’s attention, which it immediately did.

“I could go,” he said, looking up fast. “Maybe, for a while,” he said, looking River’s way, not wanting to make her mad but likin’ the sound of free booze and a fight he was pretty much guaranteed to win.

“Alcohol is no good for me.” River shrugged her slender shoulders/ “And fighting just as ill-advised, if unnecessary,” she declared, silently pointing out something Daniel had missed on his picture.

“Well, that’s true for anyone,” said Simon from his place in the kitchen, “but obviously in your...” he stopped short when he realised what he’d said, the dual glare from his sister and her husband making him feel instantly sick.

“In her what?” Kaylee prompted him to continue, but Simon quickly shook his head, urging her not to say anything more, he really shouldn’t’ve said as much as he had.

“Doc?” said Mal as he got up from his seat and turned to face him. “You got somethin’ to be tellin’ me?” he asked, but Simon could only shake his head.

“It’s really not my secret to share,” he said, his hands already rising in some kind of surrender as the Captain glared at him some.

“No, it ain’t,” growled Jayne, knowing this was not how their news was supposed to come out, and worryin’ some already how River would react.

“They’re telling you without telling.” She sighed, apparently somewhat frustrated by the turn of events but not really mad, which was a good thing for everyone. “She may as well admit.” She rolled her eyes. “Surprise child was a precious gift.” She smiled then, as she ran a hand over her boy’s hair. “Two will be treasured from first breath,” she said, as her hand went to her stomach that showed no real sign of change, and yet they all knew what she meant.

“Oh my... You’re pregnant?” Kaylee gasped, grinning all the wider when River nodded it was true, and hurrying across the room to hug her friend tight. “Oh, River, that’s so shiny!” she declared, in apparent joyous mood at the news. “More babies!” she said happily as she faced the rest of the crew who were also mostly happy.

Mal, as usual, looked cautious about the whole thing, and Inara noticed more than anybody, as the rest of the crew gave their congratulations to the soon-to-be second time parents.

“Mal, be nice, please,” she whispered to him, before getting up herself to offer heartfelt congratulations to River and Jayne.

“Nice?” he muttered. “Tzao gao, I’m always nice,” he said a little louder as the others turned to look at him, “but another little critter onboard? So fast after the last one?” he checked, finding the whole thing a little off-putting - all he’d wanted out of today was a couple of drinks and a brawl!

“Must be something in the water, as they used to say,” said Shepherd Book, making River and Kaylee giggle at least.

“I know it’s been a while, Preacher,” said Jayne as he stood up next to his wife and put an arm around her shoulders, “but it ain’t drinkin’ nothin’ that got my kid in there,” he said, leering leered somewhat, making everybody else wince.

Mal was perhaps the only one no longer listening, so stunned was he by the revelation that there was to be another birth aboard his boat.

Union Day might be everything he stood against, but this was one he would recall with a smile, he realised, as the shock subsided and he lowered himself back into his seat. He hadn’t pictured having so many young’uns amongst his crew, but Uncle Mal was words he could easy get used to, if’n he wasn’t ever to be no-one’s Pa anyhow.

“Should be givin’ you congratulations my ownself, I reckon,” he said then, as he looked over at the happy couple. “Y’know Malcolm is as good a name as any for a boy.” He winked River’s way, making her roll her eyes.

“Almost a shame she is a girl,” she declared as she retook her seat at the table beside Daniel.

“River, you can’t know that,” he brother pointed out, though he ought to have learnt by now that arguing with her on such matters was fruitless and usually ended with him being proven wrong.

“My baby, Simon,” she told him. “My body. You’ll see.”

“Reckon we shall, bao-bei,” her husband agreed, as he leaned over to kiss her briefly. “Not for some while yet though,” he reminded her.

“Before next U day.” She shrugged easily, actually feeling happy now that her news had been told, after all, she was going to share soon anyway, and this was supposed to be a day of celebration, as Kaylee was about to point out.

“Hey, we should celebrate,” she said with a smile. “Y’know, our own U day. All the unions on Serenity, ‘cause she’s made four now that’ve stuck, and brought three little ones along,” she pointed out.

“That she has,” agreed Mal with a nod, and that rare thing from him that was a genuine smile as he sat amongst what was essentially his family. “Reckon you just had a right good idea, little Kaylee,” he declared, as the mechanic raided the kitchen for any food or drink fit for a party, and Book got on the comm to ask Zoe and Wash if they’d like to come through and join the festivities if they were able.

As the crew gathered around the table, a look came over River’s face as she stared across at Simon, then glanced behind him at where Kaylee was busy in the kitchen.

“What?” her brother asked curiously.

“Could be next.” She smiled mischievously, and the look on the doc’s face showed he wasn’t sure whether to believe she was serious or not, and wouldn’t know how to take it even if he were sure.

Jayne’s laughter sounded louder than anything else at the expression on his brother-in-law’s face, but nobody paid no mind. Today was a joyous day for celebration and fun. Aboard this Firefly class ship, that was worth grabbing at whenever you could.


	4. Adored and Ignored

“Startin’ to think you was never comin’ back,” said Mal the moment Inara opened the door to her shuttle.

He was leant against the wall opposite, trying to be the picture of casual, she knew, in spite of the fact she was certain he’d been checking the time and tapping his foot with irritation until she finally docked the shuttle back onto Serenity.

“Had I known you were so eager for my return, I might’ve stayed away longer,” she teased him as she stepped out of the shuttle and the two met in the middle of the corridor/ “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or so they used to say once upon a time.”

“Mean to say I could ever love you more’n this?” he asked her as he put his arms around her. “Darlin’, you think that then you ain’t an idea how much I feel for ya.”

“Oh, I’m fairly certain that I do.” She smiled brightly at his oddly romantic words. “But if you’d like to remind me at all...” she said softly, anticipating the long, deep kiss that came next.

It showed he loved her, she knew that, but Inara wasn’t so naive as to think Mal didn’t have an ulterior motive. He tolerated her profession most of the time, but whenever she returned from a business trip, he had a happy little habit of needing to re-claim her as his property somehow. She ought to be offended in a way, and yet it was so strangely romantic and sweet to her, she just couldn’t be angry.

“As much as I could happily let this continue,” she said, pulling away before he was expecting her to, and almost knocking the pair of them over, “I have to see River before I do anything else,” she told him, quickly pulling from his arms before he could argue, leaving him pouting as she hurried away.

“Damn, womenfolk,” he cursed as Inara left him alone, with a problem he didn’t fancy solving his ownself.

Right now, Inara couldn’t care about that. There was a reason she was a little late coming home from her trip. Passing through the town she had spotted the sweetest gift for River in a shop window and simply couldn’t’ve have forgiven herself had she not purchased it for the mother-to-be. She found the girl in question in the Washbournes new sleeping quarters, a larger room than their original bunk so as to make room for the baby and all the paraphernalia that came with a child.

“May I come in?” she asked, as she tapped at the open door and Zoe smiled from her place sat on the edge of the bed with Alyssa in her arms, River perched beside her, and Daniel sat cross legged on the floor, concentrating hard on a drawing it seemed.

“Of course,” the warrior woman told her. “How was your latest trip?”

“Tiring,” Inara admitted, “but worthwhile, if not only because of this.” She grinned as she waved a paper bag in her hand and entered the room. “This is for you, mei mei,” she told River as she sat down the other side of Zoe and passed the present over the baby’s head.

“You wanna hold a while?” she offered her friend, handing over baby Alyssa a while as River looked curiously at the package from Inara then carefully opened it.

Inside she found the most beautiful little white gown, a tiny little silken garment meant for a baby girl to be christened in, she knew. It had cost a great deal but had been chosen with love by the woman River’s baby would call Aunt Inara.

“Zoe, I would’ve brought one for Alyssa too,” the Companion assured her friend as she hugged the baby close to her body and smiled down on the child she loved as dearly as any she might ever have herself, “but I know you have plans to use a piece from your wedding dress.”

“It’s fine, Inara,” Zoe assured her. “Appreciate the help you’re gonna give me in making my baby’s dress, and I know River was hankerin’ for something new for her little one.”

“Wedding dress is no good for making new from,” the younger brunette agreed. “Jayne-man was very impatient on the wedding night,” she whispered to Inara and Zoe who both bit their lip in attempts not to laugh. “Baby girl will be a little vision in white.” She smiled as she held aloft the dress Inara had bought for her. “Best aunts for a baby to have, best family for us.” She grinned, tears forming in her eyes even as she did so.

“Now, little one, no cryin’,” Zoe warned, putting an arm around her. “You’ll set us all goin’,” she told River, though tears hardly came naturally to her and Inara was an expert at hiding such emotions, even if she felt them.

“Can’t help it.” River sniffing, carefully folding up the christening gown and placing it beside her on the bed, “Feel so special, mother like you soon, real and special... can hardly believe the happiness.” She smiled widely.

“I can’t imagine there is any better feeling than carrying a child,” agreed Inara with a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes as she looked down at Alyssa who wriggled in her arms.

“Promise you it’s true.” Zoe sighed as she reached out a hand to stroke her baby’s face. “Best feeling in the world I ever knew, to carry my Lyssa, and bring her into the world.”

“Can’t wait.” River sighed, all three of them so distracted the baby that nobody noticed Daniel had abandoned his work.

He was soon on his feet, rushing over to the bed and grabbing up the precious christening dress, slinging it across the room with an almighty roar.

River was beyond stunned by his behaviour, but did not yell, even as she rose to her feet and watched her son bolt from the room.

“What in the gorram hell...?!” Jayne exclaimed as he appeared in the doorway, having caught the tail end of Daniel’s screaming and running only. “What’s happenin’ here?” he asked River who stared beyond him still.

“Pain,” she said as a wave of feelings from her son’s mind crashed over her. “Green as trees, thick as molasses,” she winced at the feel of it inside her head, a hand going to her chest as she convulsed a little. “Drowning, and fears we will not see.”

“In words o’ sense, babydoll.” Jayne tried not to lose his temper at her latest riddle, but he was way too agitated to be calm with his boy running around screaming and River looking as if she were about to keel over with some kind of sickness.

“Daniel is afraid,” she explained as she turned and carefully leant over to retrieve the christening gown. “Afraid sister will matter more than brother. That child born will be worth more than child made,” she told him, as she held up the rescued gift for him to see.

“Oh, I should have been more thoughtful,” Inara chided herself. “I bought a gift for when the baby comes, I never meant to make Daniel feel unworthy.”

“Ain’t your fault, ‘Nara,” Zoe assured her friend as she took Alyssa back from her, the baby starting to complain of hunger. “Kid’s probably been feelin’ like this a while, just today it came to a head is all.”

“This is ruttin’ crazy talk,” Jayne complained. “Like we’d love one kid more than the other.”

“He doesn’t know.” His wife shook her head. “Too young to understand, too confused. Has to know we love him, Jayne-man, have to tell him,” she said, sounding much more upset about this than he could bear to see her.

“C’mon then, bao-bei,” he said, offering her his hand. “Let’s go fix this with the boy afore the whole ship hears it and sticks their nose where it ain’t wanted,” he told her as he led her away, leaving Zoe and Inara uncertain if they’d offended at all, or if Jayne was being his usual tactless self.

Jayne and River hurried hand in hand down the corridor, til they reached the door to Daniel’s own bunk. Like Kaylee’s pretty flowery sign that bore her name, the boy had his own sign too that told this room was his. A perfect picture of Serenity flying above the letters that spelled out his name, Uncle Mal had said it was one of the smartest things he’d seen in a good long while, and Daniel had been entirely proud of it. Ma and Pa had smiled at him, told him he was clever and good. Now, Daniel could not remember happy days such as this, and River could feel the pain he felt from her spot knelt by the hatch above.

“Have to remember, special boy!” she called down to him, though she had no need to speak her words in reality, he would hear them from her mind.

“C’mon outta there, Danny!” his father told him, perhaps a little more stern than he should be when he knew the kid was already upset.

Still, Jayne was just a little mad at the kid. They’d come a long way since the boy had first leapt from a cryo pod clad in only shorts, risking being flung across the cargo bay as he grabbed at his unknowing-father’s leg like a limpet. More than a year on, Jayne loved his son like a father should and made sure the kid knew it too, though words on such a subject hardly ever passed his lips. Actions spoke louder he had found, trust and all had formed in their odd little family. Realising Danny could really think that he wasn’t loved enough hurt his father, despite the fact most would not believe such a man as Jayne Cobb could be wounded at all, least not by thoughts and words alone.

“Doesn’t mean to shout,” said River then, glaring some at Jayne before she turned her eyes back to the hatch beneath which their son hid. “Means to love and care. He hurts when we hurt. Black for your green.”

Still no answer came from the boy, no sound of words or movement from his room. Wife looked to husband with an expression that told him he was going to have to fix this one. She had said all she could, it was up to Jayne now. With a sigh, the merc shook his head, sitting himself down beside the hatch with his back against the ships wall as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to get the kid to listen.

“See now, Danny,” he said, as River curled up beside him, trusting him to say the right thing, even though he had little or no faith in himself to do so. “Ya ain’t the only one to ever feel left outta somethin’. You think your Ma feels right normal when she’s havin’ one of her nightmare days, all messed up and screamin’? She don’t feel like she fits at all, don’t mean we love her less,” he explained, squeezing River’s hand as it slid into his own. “And me, well, you and your Ma are geniuses both. I ain’t half so smart, no schoolin’, can’t see in other folks heads nor nothin’. Makes me the third wheel, don’t it?”

“Not true,” his wife whispered, as she curled into his side, but Jayne knew it was.

“I ain’t sayin’ I mind none,” he told River and Daniel both. “I know your Ma is happy enough tied to me for who I is, and if that don’t prove she’s crazy I dunno what does,” he joked, making her look at him with wide eyes but a smile nonetheless. “See, son, that’s family. We all left out some way or other, and when the little bit comes along, can’t promise you ain’t gonna feel it, but... it never means we don’t love ya, son,” he said sincerely, a little less awkward saying those words these days, and happier that he was at least alone with only his wife and child to hear him.

“Love always, and true,” River echoed his sentiment. “Little sisters need older brothers too,” she said definitely, knowing just how true it was.

Without Simon to rescue her, she would’ve lived and died alone in the Academy, suffering for far too long. Brother had brought her to husband and son, father figure, friends and family all. Brought her home.

Eventually there was a clunk of the mechanism unlocking the hatch to Daniel’s bunk and then the boy himself emerged. His expression was caught between shame for his actions, love for his folks, and the threat of tears that could be for any number of reasons.

“Sorry, Ma. Sorry, Pa,” he said, hanging his head a moment then peering over at his seated parents. “Will love my little sister,” he promised.

“C’mere you dumb young ‘un.” Jayne smiled in spite of himself as Danny ran into his mother’s warm embrace, the two of them easily fitting into Jayne’s arms.

It was stupid to believe his parents could ever love another child more than him, Daniel knew that now, and ought to have done so all along. Still, everyone was dumb sometimes, and that was okay. His family always loved him, and he always loved them, no matter what.


	5. Men and Women

“I ain’t sayin’ as I don’t like you carin’ so much, husband,” said Zoe as she strode through the ship and straight into the galley where River and Jayne were sharing a meal, “but it don’t change the fact I am going on this mission with the Captain,” the warrior woman continued as her husband came hurrying in behind her, baby Alyssa held close in his arms.

“Zoe, you’re a mother now!” he told her as if she didn’t know, the other couples eyes flitting between the pair as they argued.

“As is River,” pointed out Zoe as she poured herself a mug of coffee in the kitchen, “but you don’t hear Jayne barking at her about sitting out of work,” she waved a hand at the pair sat at the table, whilst her own husband took a seat opposite them.

“Hey, she’s only comin’ along to get in the man’s head, see if Mal can trust him,” the merc pointed out. “She ain’t gettin’ into no fights, not in her condition,” he said firmly.

Whilst River appreciated the fact her man would like to protect her and her unborn child, she was a little affronted by his tone and the way he seemed to feel the need to speak for her.

“Can speak for myself, Jayne-man!” she snapped, her eyes harsh as she glared at her husband.

“I know, bao-bei,” he quickly defended himself, knowing her wrath was so not worth incurring, especially when she was all hormones and hollerin’ of late. “I didn’t mean nothin’-”

He stopped when she held up her hand to silence him, and scraped the chair against the floor as she got to her feet.

“Men are boobs,” she said flatly as she passed Zoe, trading places with her in the kitchen.

“Couldn’t agree more, mei mei,” she agreed, looking towards Wash as she came to sit down at the table opposite her husband.

“Look, come on, Lamby-Toes.” He sighed, not wanting this fight anymore than she did, and feeling just a little bad they seemed to have dragged River and Jayne into the furore too. “All I’m saying is maybe you want to keep yourself out of danger some now we have ’Lyssa to think of,” he said, bouncing the baby in his arms, as he watched Zoe drink her coffee. “Maybe I could go with Mal?”

“You recall what happened last time you did that?” she cut in, shooting him a look that you didn’t want to mess with.

“Like I could forget.” He rolled his eyes, shuddering involuntarily as he recalled the torture he’d taken at the hands of Adelai Niska.

Alyssa must have picked up on the tension in the room or the fear her father recalled all too clearly as she wriggled and cried some in his arms.

“Ssh, baby,” her father tried to soothe her, hugging her close and whispering words of comfort that soon had her quiet again.

“See, you cope just fine,” his wife noted, as she downed the rest of her hot drink. “You stay with the baby, I’ll go out and shoot the bad guys.”

“Oh, great plan!” Wash all but yelled, indignant in the extreme. “Why don’t you just cut off my jan-doh duh ee-kwai-ro altogether!” he declared as Zoe turned away.

“Why do men think they’re superior just ‘cause they got one of those?” she asked River as she moved through the room now, glaring daggers at Jayne on her way.

“Idiotic,” she said simply. “After baby girl comes, I will fight again,” she told them all, sitting down at the opposite end of the table from Jayne. “Back to back with sister in arms,” she said proudly, sharing a near-triumphant smile with Zoe.

“The hell you will!” her husband all but exploded at that remark, fist slamming against the table, and startling poor Alyssa, though thankfully she didn’t make too much noise about it. “And leave me holdin’ the baby?”

“Sometimes, yes.” River was definite in her response, and Wash could see this fight dividing the whole crew before the day was out, causing nothing but trouble and upset that no-one needed.

“Give it up, Jayne.” He sighed, hoping to calm the merc down some before things were said that shouldn’t be. “I don’t think either of us are gonna win this one,” he said, as he looked across at his wife who almost interceptibly shook her head in agreement of what he’d just said.

Wash knew he ought to have learnt by now not to argue with his wife on this subject or any other. She was almost always proved to be right. Plus, if he could stop Jayne getting into deeper trouble with River, he’d do it. After all, menfolk had to stick together on this boat. Unfortunately, it seemed Jayne would not be helped and Wash winced as he heard what the merc would say next.

“Where I come from,” he muttered, getting up from the table to toss his eating things in the kitchen sink, “womenfolk raise young ‘uns and clean house.”

Zoe and River looked stunned at the implication, eyes going wide on both of them as they turned to glare at him.

“Oh, you start in on that and you won’t have to worry about having no more kids, Jayne,” said the warrior woman most definitely, and if’n she’d had a knife in her hand, the mercenary would’ve been mindful to cover himself.

“Affirmative,” his wife confirmed as he looked at River, seeing the cold steel of her gaze, he knew what she meant too.

“Okay.” Wash laughed nervously. “I just-”

“You too, says your lady’s eyes,” River told him, glancing from her fellow female to the pilot and back.

The icy glares had not died down any when Kaylee entered the galley with a sunny smile that did not fit at all.

“Well, this ain’t family fun,” she said, happy expression wavering some when she realised the yelling she’d heard all too clearly from down the hall probably wasn’t over yet. “Y’know, I don’t see why you can’t take turns bein’ action heroes and parents both.” She shook her head as she encouraged Jayne out of her way so she could get into the kitchen area. “Hell, I’ll be happy to be fixin’ Serenity’s engine when I’m downright ready to pop even, Simon won’t stop me neither,” she went on, mind really not on what she was admitting and to whom.

She stopped short, biting her lip the second her brain engaged, and she brought her head up from her would-be hiding place to peer over the counter top at her crewmates.

“Oops?” she offered when she realised they were all staring at her, surprised by the words she hadn’t meant to let out.

“Understand now,” said River, smiling widely as she moved to take her friends hands and stand her up straight. “Mixed signals, cross-wires. Not alone.” She shook her head, still grinning. “You’re carrying too.”

“Er, might be, yeah.” Kaylee giggled, knowing it was too late to take it back now and only hoping Simon wouldn’t be mad their news came out this way, after all, she hadn’t done it on purpose, just got carried away is all.

“Shiny,” agreed Wash. “More kids to fight over,” he said pointedly as Zoe looked his way, unable to keep from smiling when she saw his own grin.

A baby was all they’d wanted for so long, and they were so lucky and so happy to have Alyssa. They really shouldn’t use her for an excuse to make arguments that they didn’t want to have anyhow.

“Husband, if you thought this was a fight, then you don’t remember what we was like before we were married,” she reminded him, as he got up and rounded the table to stand beside her.

“Hmm, I remember when the fighting stopped,” he said as they leant in for a kiss, mindful not to squash the wriggling child between them.

As Kaylee excused herself to go confess to Simon what she’d done, River moved to stand behind Jayne who was sat at the table again now.

“Disagreement is good for relationships,” she explained as she leaned over him, arms around his neck as she whispered in his ear. “Breaking up means making up,” she reminded him with a giggle.

“Ain’t gonna argue none with that.” He grinned, as he turned around enough grab her and pull her into his lap, kissing her firmly on the lips.

In a moment, it was easy to forget there had been a fight here at all, such was the way with men and women in love.


	6. Past and Future

It was dark there, dark and cold, and yet the pain that ripped through her body was white hot as molten steel. The only thing worse than the agony were the faces that hid in the dark and the voices that whispered things she could only just hear but knew she did not want to know.

The screaming might have been her own, might have been anyones, her ears did not feel like her own, her eyes did not see the truth. A final primal sound erupted and there stood a girl, a mirror image in so many ways, with eyes that gave her away as a part of someone else. When she reached for the flesh and blood that should be her own, smoke and mirrors meant she disappeared as peels of maniacal laughter rang all around.

This time when a would-be scream came out as a strangled sob, River knew the sound was coming from herself, and the world around her was at once real as she sat up sharply in the bed she shared with her husband.

“Hey, now, bao-bei,” he said as he was woken by the noise she made and way she moved. “What’s happenin’?” he checked as his eyes adjusted to the gloom and his brain kicked into gear from its previous sleeping state. “Is it the little one?” he asked when he noticed both her hands had gone to her pregnant belly.

“Yes,” she answered immediately. “No,” she changed her mind, realising she would give the wrong impression with her first answer. “Not logical or true. In my head only, REM cycles, skewed vision, irrational,” she rambled, trying to comfort herself that she had only had a bad dream, that she was fine now, and yet her words proved as explanation for her husband too.

“Bad dream, huh?” said Jayne as he propped himself up on an elbow and reached to push her hair out of her face - she was shaking and yet a sheen of sweat lay on her skin.

“Yes, very bad,” she confirmed, before turning sharply to look at him. “Jayne-man can make it better,” she said as she dropped down beside him, urging his arms around her body and burying her face in his chest.

“That musta been a helluva adventure in that pretty little head,” he said as he held her close, stroking her hair where it flowed down her back. “You wanna talk about it, babydoll?” he asked, knowing he maybe wouldn’t want to hear the morbid and creepifying things her head was capable of conjuring after all the Alliance hwun-dahns had stuck in her head, but also knowing he had to help her any way he could - he loved her too much not to.

“Irrational fear,” was her only answer, and even that was muffled with her face against his body and half beneath the blankets too.

“So you keep on tellin’ me.” He sighed. “But you don’t say what or why,” he said, as he moved the covers and attempted to get her to at least look at him.

“Fear,” she admitted as she pulled away enough to see him but stayed in his embrace still. “Fear that bad will come from good, black where white should be,” she explained as best she could, turning to lay on her back now with one hand straying to her bump. “Fear of complications,” she said plainly then, something Jayne was real grateful for.

“But you ain’t sick,” he assured her. “Good ol’ brother doc said everythin’ was shiny with you and the kid both,” he reminded her, though he couldn’t believe she needed tellin’ since her last check with Simon was just two days previous.

“Hence irrational.” She sighed, feeling as embarrassed now as she had been fearful of her ridiculous dream.

So much she had seen, so much faced and conquered. River was at least grateful to know her own thoughts and memories from those of others. Her nightmares were her own now, her fears belonging to one woman, and that was River Tam. Though the other things existed in her head, they could be more easily locked away most of the time. This bad dream had an explanation she could find and a few moments with her beloved Jayne-man’s arms around her made it all better.

“Other fears too,” she went on to say. “Daughters are precious, but can get lost. Fall through cracks, stolen away,” she rambled some, though Jayne reckoned he was following pretty well.

“Ain’t nobody gonna take our baby girl, bao-bei,” he swore to her. “Got my word on it.”

He hadn’t really thought that would be a fear she’d have, though maybe it oughta occurred to Jayne. After all, back in her childhood days, she’d been happy enough with her parents and brother in her fancy world. Hadn’t an idea one day she’d been taken out of it and have to go through what she had. Made Jayne’s blood boil to think of it and be held her just a little tighter as he tried to put it out of his head.

“Sometimes fear creeps in, irrational or not,” River all but whispered in the dark, seeing what he saw in his head, knowing he understood because he felt it too sometimes. “Creeps like lurking shadows.”

“Yeah, but shadows ain’t nothin’ to be afeared of, River, so this ain’t either,” he promised her, kissing the top of her head as he held her still, going back to their original conversation. “Girlfolk been poppin’ out kids just as long as the worlds have been turnin’. Ain’t sayin’ it ain’t scary for ya, but you don’t gotta fret so much,” he tried to reassure her. “We got us a doc, and you got me here with ya. ‘S gonna work out shiny,” he promised. “And when she gets here, she got a whole crew lookin’ over her shoulder, so she won’t have nothin’ to be afeared of neither,” he assured her, glad to feel her relaxing in his arms and not hardly shaking at all now.

“He says so too.” She smiled, feeling thoughts and emotions from the next room. “Felt fear from one, calm from another,” she explained, speaking of Daniel as she turned her head and smiled at Jayne. “He sleeps again now.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a smart one, just like his Ma,” he told her, returning that same smile, just glad she was feeling better already.

“Like you too, smart in your own way,” she told him, just as she did every time he spoke highly of her intelligence and doubted his own. “Jayne-man is smart, and sweet, and strong...” she went on, punctuating each complimentary quality she listed with a kiss to his face, her hands running over his chest and further south.

“Hey, you carry on that way, ain’t neither of us gonna get no sleep,” he told her, the smirk on his face telling her he didn’t really mind anyway.

“Can’t worry about getting her pregnant,” she joked, moving up as close as she could get in her very pregnant condition. “Don’t want to sleep, not until something good takes the bad away,” she told him, with a look that was caught between sweet little girl and horny little devil.

Though he kissed her long and hard and almost gave in to her request something stopped him, and River read the fear from his head before he had a chance to tell her why he pulled away.

“Can’t hurt her,” she assured him, a hand on her bump then, “or her,” she said as she took his own hand and put it over her own heart. “Need to be close,” she told him, as if that were not already obvious.

This time when he kissed her, he gave in and did what came naturally, which was all she really wanted. A while later they would go back to sleep, bodies wrapped around each other, and all fears, irrational or otherwise, well and truly forgotten.


	7. Mother and Child

The sounds of screaming and wailing sent Kaylee scuttling far away from the infirmary just as quick as her pregnant state would allow. Though she had some time to go yet, today was the day River was apparently going to bring her baby daughter into the world.

Things had been fine when Zoe gave birth to Alyssa, back then Kaylee had stayed pretty calm about everything, but today reality was hitting home. In a few weeks, she would be the one in the medical room, trying to breathe through wave after wave of intense pain, pushing a child out of her body into the world. Being a mother didn’t scare her none, but actually havin’ the baby come out, that part really bothered her.

Simon had tried to calm the fear he knew she had, but medical jargon and diagrams only served to confuse her more. This was why Kaylee was seeking solace in some part of the ship where the echo didn’t carry the sound of her best friends pain. She was up on the bridge before she realised where she was going and stumbled into some random conversation between the Captain and Wash.

“So when Inara took Zoe and Alyssa planetside for more baby shopping, Daniel went with for shuttle piloting practise and-” The pilot stopped talking when he felt someone stood behind him and turned to see Kaylee framed in the doorway, her face as pale as a desert moon.

“You alright, mei mei?” asked Mal with genuine concern. “Is River doin’ okay?”

“She’s screamin’ an awful lot,” admitted the mechanic who visibly shook as she glanced back down the corridor. “It’s normal though, I reckon, I just... I don’t know about doin’ all that, how I’m gonna do it.” She shook her head.

“Kaylee,” said the Captain as he moved over to her and put his hands lightly on her shoulders. “Now you listen to me, darlin’. Ain’t nothin’ we can’t do if’n we set our minds to it, right?” he reminded her.

“Yes, Cap’n.” She nodded, though she remained unconvinced. “I just, I never thought about how hard it’d be, how painful... Why in the ‘verse did God make having kids that hard?” she asked in earnest.

Not wanting to upset her more, and certainly not wanting to start a discussion over his belief or lack of same in a higher being, Mal said nothing for a moment as he led the little mechanic over to the co-pilots chair and sat her down. Kneeling before her, he looked up into her eyes, putting on his best fatherly expression and tone as he spoke to her.

“Think about this, little Kaylee,” he told her. “A few minutes, maybe a few hours, you spend yellin’ an’ hurtin’ and all, but for the rest of your natural, you got a little boy or girl gonna love you more’n anythin’ else in any world spinnin’,” he explained. “Now, I can’t say as to why exactly you gotta go through any sufferin’ to get to the good part, but mei mei, ain’t nothin’ worth havin’ comes easy.”

“That is true,” chimed in Wash from the pilot’s seat. “You know the trouble I had getting Zoe to see we were made for each other. They say words can’t hurt a person but some of things she said to me... well, they didn’t make me happy,” he reminded them, “but it was worth all the knock backs, all the effort and the pain of rejection, to get where we are now.” He smiled. “As for Alyssa, need I remind the two of you of the bruising? You remember the bruising,” he said, pointing to the back of his right hand, now completely healed of course. “Purple, for eight days where my darling wifey squeezed so hard when the little one was coming into the world.”

“Hell, I think Jayne’ll take it, but if Kaylee here has a hold on the doc’s lilly white fingers, more as like gonna end up with a few broken bones,” the Captain joked, as Kaylee playfully smacked him in the shoulder.

“Hey, you’re talkin’ about the father of my child,” she reminded him, as Mal chuckled.

“That’s as maybe.” He nodded. “But you were my mechanic before you was his better half. Want you to remember, always here for ya,” he promised as he got to his feet and leaned in to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“I love my Captain.” She smiled up at him, genuine as ever.

He had helped a lot, promising her things would be okay. He was right, of course, but it was nice to hear someone else confirm that everything would be alright in the end. It would be worth a little pain and trouble to have her and Simon’s baby here for them to love. Kaylee only hoped she’d be as good a parent to her young ‘un as the Captain unknowingly was to her.

“Now, how ’bout you and me go see if my little Albatross is done yellin’ so loud the walls shake,” said Mal, offering a hand to his mechanic who nodded as she took it and pulled herself up. “Could be we got ourselves another little crew member by now.”

* * *

“Congratulations, mei mei,” said Simon with a giddy smile as he handed over the newborn to River. “You have a beautiful baby girl.”

“Told you.” She stuck out her tongue at her brother, even as she took her daughter in her arms and held her close.

“You done me proud, bao bei,” declared Jayne with arm around his wife as he planted a kiss on her temple. “She’s the most beautiful thing I ever seen next to you.”

River smiled at her husband and daughter both, hardly able to contain how happy she was. In her head she had dreamed of a family one day, full of love and warmth and happiness. She had never imagined her situation would be this, out in the black on a ship full of people she hadn’t known at all a couple of years ago. Now she was friend, lover, wife, mother, all and more, and so happy to be so.

“This one we must name ourselves,” she told Jayne then. “Daniel is perfect for his name, but she has nothing pre-arranged.”

“Yeah, we never did finish up picking somethin’ out for the little one,” he agreed, as he pulled up the stool beside the bed and sat down scratching his head.

“How about Vera?” suggested River with a giggle, but the look on Jayne’s face told her immediately he didn’t find that funny. “Can’t be after my mother, could be after yours?” she tried again.

This time River’s suggestion was a serious one, but still Jayne didn’t look entirely impressed.

“Radiant fits for Ma, not so sure it fits for her.” He shrugged, very gently putting his hand to the little baby’s head and stroking the light covering of dark hair she already possessed. “You don’t wanna name her Little River?” he offered at which her nose wrinkled.

“Would be almost as odd as Little Jane,” she noted. “And very confusing when calling for attention around ship,” she said thoughtfully. “Sorry, Baby Cobb” she sighed as she looked down on her baby daughter. “No name for now.”

“Hey, how about my Ma’s middle name?” said Jayne then. “That’s been passed down for generations. Woulda been my sister’s name if’n I had one, but Ma raised all boys.”

“Jessamine Cobb,” said River, a smile spreading over her lips as she read the name from her husbands head and recognised the sound of it - she was sure the woman herself had spoken of it when they first met. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” she agreed with a nod, before a yawn overtook her. “Long day,” she remarked, as Jayne moved to kiss her, unable to keep from doing so any longer.

“Meant what I said, bao bei,” he assured her. “Never thought I could love ya anymore than I already did, but you made me go and do it.”

“She is very proud of her achievement.” River smiled, before looking down on her child with eyes that shone with happy tears. “Very proud of all achievements today.”


	8. Family and Friends

“You’re gonna like it here. Don’t look like much of a ship, but its special ‘cause we’re all family, and Serenity is a part of that family. She keeps us safe. ‘Course she’s not the only one lookin’ out for us. My Ma and Pa, and Uncle Mal, and Aunt Zoe, they fight off any bad guys that come. My Uncle Simon... that’s your Pa, he fixes us up when we get sick or hurt, and your Ma, she does the same for Serenity. Then there’s Aunt ‘Nara, she’s always real nice, and Shepherd Book, he prays for us so that God is always takin’ care of anythin’ we can’t handle our ownselves. Then there’s me, and Jessie, and Lyssa, we’re all your cousins. So, don’t ever worry about bein’ lonely or scared, ‘cause we’re all here for you, all the time.”

Kaylee smiled as she lay on the nearby bed, watching through half-closed eyes as Danny leant over the cribs in which her newborn twins lay and told them all about the family they’d been born into. He was the sweetest kid, she’d known from the day he arrived he belonged here on Serenity. What she hadn’t figured on then was how much things would change in the months and years that followed. From one little boy on board to two, plus two little girls. It was a real family now, by blood and marriage and pure love, and Kaylee couldn’t keep the smile off her face knowin’ she was part of it.

“Sorry if I woke you, Aunt Kaylee,” Daniel duly apologised as he glanced her way just the moment she opened her eyes up.

“Oh, don’t worry on it, sweetie,” she told the boy kindly as she sat up, aching in places she’d sooner not ache and feeling hardly less tired than when she started her nap, but she could live with it, because it meant she was a mother to two beautiful babies now. “I’m glad you was welcomin’ my angels to the family,” she said as she shuffled over to the cribs and peered in at the babies that slept still.

“Aunt Kaylee, how’d you pick the names for them?” asked Daniel. “Nathaniel and Persephone are good names, but how’d you pick?”

“Well, I met your Uncle Simon on Persephone, that was where he and your Ma got aboard Serenity,” she explained. “So it seemed like a good and special name for our little girl.” She smiled. “Since I named her, I asked Simon to name our little man, and he picked Nathaniel after his Grandpa.”

“Like Jessie is named after Grandma Cobb’s middle name.” He nodded in understanding as he looked once again into the cribs, only to have the twins suddenly wake and begin bawling.

“Oh, here we go again,” she said, reaching in to lift her daughter out, just as Simon hurried into the room.

“I heard them on the comm,” he said by way of explanation as he came over to pick up his son and lend a hand to his soon-to-be wife anyway he could.

“Simon, you must’ve gorram flew from the infirmary.” She smiled at his enthusiasm that he had from day one when it came to fatherhood, and to think that just a couple of years ago when he first arrived onboard ship, he couldn’t string together a sentence in front of her without stammering and blushing all over.

“I should go,” said Daniel. “Think the Captain wants to talk to me,” he said with a slight frown as he picked up on distant thoughts from Mal.

By now Kaylee and Simon were so caught up feeding and comforting their babies, they almost didn’t notice his leaving.

Heading down the hall and turning a corner to go up the stairs, Daniel came face to face with Mal, who jumped when he realised he was suddenly there.

“Danny, I been hollerin’ for you from front to back of this boat!” he told him, not exactly angry at him, the boy was certain, but perhaps a little frustrated.

“Sorry, sir,” he said dutifully, knowing this was a time to respect his Captain, not a moment for playing games with Uncle Mal.

“That be alright, nyen chuh, no harm done,” he assured the kid that he always had a lot of time for.

He may be barely eleven years old but the kid could fly a shuttle or Serenity herself well enough. He came in handy as Reader alongside his Ma, and was almost always ready to jump in and help with whatever was needed, sometimes without even bein’ asked. Yeah, Mal had a lot of time for the boy, even if he was an odd hybrid of Jayne and River manufactured in a lab by Alliance hwun-dahns, it didn’t matter none.

“It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re headed,” Daniel read from the Captain’s mind and smiled, he liked that sentiment.

“Always true, Danny.” He nodded, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder and leading him back up the stairs, headed for the bridge. “And we’re headed into a whole heap of trouble if we ain’t prepared for what’s comin’ our way,” he explained, as they walked on and Mal started to explain to him what he needed from Danny, mostly involving his flying skills for the spare shuttle.

As they passed by the sleeping quarters, the boy smiled as he felt the warmth of his family in the room below.

Baby Jessamine was asleep in her crib, with River resting on the bed. Jayne watched over the two of them, proud as a man could ever be. It was still strange for the mercenary to think about how his life had changed. Just a couple of years ago, if a person had told him he’d be married by now, to a crazy little thing like River no less, and have two kids like he did, well he’d a called ‘em fong-luh and shot ‘em just for kicks!

Now Jayne Cobb was a family man. Though he was happy enough to go out for a drink and a brawl sometimes, he was just as eager to stay aboard the ship with his wife, son, and daughter at other times. Since the little one was born, he’d found he could sometimes spend hours just staring at her, wondering at how the beautiful little girl could be something he’d made. Then he’d look at his wife, and realise she was the reason.

“Not true,” said River, eyes still closed even as she spoke to him. “She is as much father as mother, just as important,” she explained, clearly having been listening in on the thoughts that filled her husband’s head. “Told you this before, many times,” she said, her eyes finally opening as she stirred and sat up.

“That you did, babydoll.” He nodded his agreement as she walked over to him and he pulled her into his lap, holding her close. “Still, sometimes think I got me a lot more than I deserved. Havin’ Danny find us, you and me gettin’ wed, then the little one comin’ along.”

“You are blessed,” she agreed, “but true of both. I found you,” she said as she leaned back into him. “My Jayne-man, my special boy, my beautiful girl. Perfect world.” She sighed contentedly, eyes closing as she revelled in the feeling of being here in his arms, knowing he was as happy as she was.

Trouble would come, faster and more often than she’d like, but that was life. Nobody’s life, no matter how seemingly wonderful, went on untarnished by events around them. Life would have its ups and downs, but there was nothing the extended family aboard the Serenity could not endure, this at least River was always certain of.


End file.
